Sasuke's Shadow
by XellGadis
Summary: A look through the eyes of Kaori, a ninja whose talents were great, and her test to become a gennin


Sasuke's Shadow  
by XellGadis  
  
"YOU IDIOTS!!!" Kaori screamed out in disgust. She looked at her other two team members. Mutsumi, one of the lower members in the class, and Kuraku, an intelligent, but lazy person.   
"You heard what Akito-sensei said. Only the top three teams actually become gennin! Everybody else has to be sent back to the academy." She glared at her two companions. Tired from a day of training, she went to her room. Resting on her bed, she looked at the callendar. There was less than two days to pass the test. Kaori knew that if she wanted to succeed, Mutsumi and Kuraku had to succeed as well. That was the hard part.  
"Well at least I didn't get teamed up with Naruto. Sasuke got to deal with him" she thought. Straightening Kuraku should be easy enough, but Mutsumi was a complete idiot. Well more of an incomplete one. She thought hard and she eventually worried herself to sleep. The next morning, Kaori met at training ground 9 with her Mutsumi and Kuraku. Right on time, Akito-sensei appeared with his first task.  
"If you wish to become gennin, you have 3 hours to obtain this scroll. Whomever does that will become a gennin." Akito-sensei said.  
"But there's only one scroll" Kaori said. "Does that mean only one person can pass?"  
"Well I guess that's so" Akito smiled. "One scroll means one passer." As soon as Kaori heard that, she knew it had to be her. Mutsumi and Kuraku weren't good enough to obtain the scroll. As soon as Akito started the clock, Kaori made a dash to hide herself in the trees. Mutsumi and Kuraku did the same. Akito had the scroll attached to his belt. As Kaori eyed her victim, she quietly slid out her kunai from her bag and stealthy made her way towards the Jounin. While she was creeping through the forest, Kuraku had decided to make a swift attack at Akito. Kaori watched his attempt, and with some quick thinking, she decided it would be best to attack Akito from the back while Kuraku was doing a more direct assualt. Kuraku sprung out of the trees and the Jounin had quickly sidestepped to avoid the attack. With his back turned to her, Kaori made a quick dash to cut the string which held the scroll to his belt. Unfortunately, Kuraku hadn't noticed his partner's movement and attacked Akito from the side which had him dodging both attacks. Kaori glared at her 'unworthy' partner. "You idiot! I was about to get the scroll if you hadn't made that last attack!"  
"And how were you to know that Akito-sensei didn't know you were there? He could have made that move to dodge YOUR attack!" And so the two began quarreling for several minutes while the Jounin Akito had sat in the treetops watching them argue. Well after they vented their anger at eachother, they decided to restart and make their own attempts at the scroll and not interfering with eachother. The first had to find Mutsumi and inform him of their plans. Mutsumi was hiding in one of the trees, and when he heard his companions calling for him, he jumped down from it. After being informed of the plan, he agreed not to interfere with Kaori's or Kuraku's plans. He knew they were smarter and swifter than he was, and he didn't want to interfere with their actions. If he did, he would get an earful as he did from Iruka-sensei at the academy. For the next 2 hours, each had made their own individual attacks at him each of which had failed. Defeated, the three returned at the starting point of the test. Akito-sensei was already there waiting, with his watch.  
"Well time's up. Guess you all fail."  
"Well even if we HAD obtained the scroll, only one of us would be able to pass." Kaori protested.  
"Actually, no. If you had obtained the scroll on your own, I would be quite impressed. If all three of you had worked together, you would have been able to get it.  
"But still, it would be hard with THEM working with me." Kaori complained as she glared at her two partners. "Its like they're holding me back!"  
"We aren't!" Kuraku declared. "I work at my own pace. Just because I'm not you doesn't mean you're better than I am!" Mutsumi nodded in agreement.  
"Thats part of the test. You're going to have to put aside your differences or use them to your advantages. You also have to trust eachother enough with your lives incase problems arose. You weren't able to do any of that so I think you need some extra training. You're techniques were pretty good, but you need more agility. You move too slow."  
"So the test??" all three asked in unision.  
"Failed" Akito-sensei said. Defeated, Kaori went to her room.  
"I wonder how Sasuke did on his test." she thought to herself. After eating dinner, she went over to the academy where the results were posted. "I've always been in his shadow. Everybody acknowledged his talent, but they would always compare him to me. I was always the lesser one." Looking at the list, she was shocked. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto had passed their test. "I guess I'll forever be in is shadow" she thought to herself. Kuraku and Mutsumi were there too. Kuraku put his hand on her shoulder and assured her. "Next year we WILL pass." he said with a smile. "At least we know what we need to improve. I also don't like the idea of Naruto advancing faster than I do. We'll catch up eventually."  
"I hope so..." Kaori said with a faint smile. With a small light of hope within herself, she went to her room and silently went to sleep, awating the day when she can achieve a greater status within the clan. 


End file.
